No, this was not a mistake on our part, although we did think twice about including this quote. But the fact of the matter is that times have changed. You are right, traditionally the “F” word was considered shocking. When it was first used on British television (by the critic Kenneth Tynan in 1965) there was a national scandal: now you frequently hear it on TV. It’s not the sort of word you’d want to use in a job interview, or with people of a certain age, but it’s not nearly as offensive as it once was. The really offensive words these days are racist insults (which we prefer not to print).